


the moment your eyes blink, we are connected

by erinyes_grace



Category: Produce 101 (TV), UNIQ (Band), UP10TION, X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Haunted Houses, Light Angst, M/M, ONCE AGAIN!!! byungchan is a pivotal character, but no trust me it's not scary bc i'd scare myself first, chonamgyul (team rocket) are only together for a bit im sorry, honestly it would have taken seungseok another 10 yrs to get together if it werent for him, jinhyuk is loud, librarian!wooseok, seungwoo is soft :(, seungyoun dances with yibo ahhh my heart, student!seungyoun, warning: excessive pda in the library, when i say excessive i mean it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 08:49:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20963795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erinyes_grace/pseuds/erinyes_grace
Summary: It really didn’t come as a surprise to anyone when Cho Seungyoun and his friends were almost banned from the library. What did surprise Seungyoun, though, was that he would fall in love with the quiet librarian who would come to kick them out.whipped!seungyoun x tsundere!wooseok





	the moment your eyes blink, we are connected

**Author's Note:**

> i am back with a seungseok au ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) pls enjoy
> 
> title inspo: x1--flash

PART I

It was finals season. Aside from the quiet noises of pages flipping and pencils scraping against paper, the library was practically devoid of sound. There was the occasional cough or sneeze, but those were met with glares from students that were annoyed by the disruption. Everyone seemed to tiptoe around the large hall and talked in hushed tones in secluded corners behind the rows of bookshelves.

Seungyoun didn’t know why he was in the library. His entire existence contradicted the quietness of the place. He side-eyed his friend Hangyul, who was standing beside him and who basically dragged Seungyoun’s lazy ass out of the dorms and into a place he’d never set foot in—the library. Hangyul pretended to not notice his pointed look and kept whispering to Dohyon, their other poor friend who was also unwillingly woken up by Hangyul. Seungyoun didn’t think that Dohyon even heard any of the things that were coming out of Hangyul’s mouth. He was pretty sure Dohyon was fast asleep whilst standing up.

Finally noticing that Dohyon was not going to participate in anything he was planning, Hangyul let out a resigned sigh. Students near them whipped their heads around, looking for the culprit that disturbed their peace, and for some unknown reason, their gazes all turned to focus on Seungyoun. He rolled his eyes, mouthing a “sorry”—he just looked like the loud type, what else could he do? Hangyul nudged him in the ribs, an apology that didn’t feel apologetic at all.

Consciously lowering his voice to avoid being glared at again, Seungyoun kicked Hangyul on the shin lightly, “What are we doing here?”

“I heard that someone hid their Philosophy in Literature notes for the finals here,” Hangyul waved in a vague direction, “On that bookshelf.”

“…” Seungyoun turned on his heels and began walking out.

Hangyul took a large step and grabbed Seungyoun by the arm, “Come on, hyung, help me just this once, please?”

Seungyoun’s eyes twitched. Hangyul only ever used this tone when he was asking him for a big favour, and he knew that Seungyoun couldn’t say no to it.

The next thing he knew, he was in front of the bookshelf where the notes were supposedly hidden, digging at the neatly lined books.

“It’s easier to find them with more people, don’t you think? If only Dohyon wasn’t asleep,” Hangyul said in a wistful tone.

“You can try waking him,” Seungyoun muttered, “Props to you if you do.” It was way too early in the morning for this kind of labour.

Hangyul laughed from the other side of the bookshelf, completely unaware that he was in a library, “I don’t want to get my head ripped off by that boy, he’s scary when he gets woken up— Oh shit!”

Seungyoun looked up just in time to see the giant wooden bookshelf tilting towards him. Praying for his fast reflexes to save him, he dived to the left and just narrowly missed out on being processed into a human meat pie. The bookshelf, along with the fifty books on it, toppled onto the carpet with a loud, muffled crash.

The poor students near their area, who were just trying to study for their final exams, were once again interrupted. Seungyoun didn’t even want to look up—he knew what expressions they were probably sporting right now. Even Dohyon woke up from the commotion and was staring in their direction with squinted eyes.

Seungyoun sighed, glancing at a guilty-looking Hangyul, “What the hell just happened?”

Before Hangyul could reply, a soft, but nonetheless stern voice rang out behind him and repeated his question, “What’s going on?”

Seungyoun whipped his head around, only to find a shorter man, with round glasses perched on his nose bridge, pacing towards him. He looked incredibly young. _And pretty_, Seungyoun added in his head. From the slightly huffy words he spoke, it seemed like he had run, but stopped a bit farther away just to pretend that he walked all the way in a composed manner. Seungyoun had to press his lips together in order to not laugh and hurt the other’s pride. Seungyoun peered down at his nametag—it spelt out “Librarian: Kim Wooseok” in neat letters.

The pretty librarian—Wooseok—cleared his throat, expecting an answer from Seungyoun, who probably seemed like the ultimate culprit—well, he wouldn’t blame him for thinking that. Seungyoun was used to it. He shrugged, raising his arms and opening his palms in front of him, “It fell over, just like that.”

“It was me, I’m sorry!” Hangyul bowed with slightly more sincerity at the shorter man who was probably anything but impressed.

Wooseok turned his eyes to Seungyoun disapprovingly, as if to say, _You’re gonna let your friend take all the blame?_

Seungyoun rolled his eyes, this time it was really _not_ his fault, “Sorry. We won’t leave until all the books are put back. Are you satisfied?”

“No need. Just put the shelf back to where it was,” Wooseok crossed his arms in front of his body, probably in an attempt to make himself seem scary to the obnoxious duo in front of him, “With that strength of yours that you used to push it over.”

Seungyoun was fine with the arrangement, but Hangyul wanted to argue some more after they pushed the heavy shelf upright, “We can help with the books-”

“I said, leave it. You will mess them up,” the librarian interrupted, looking around at the hardworking students around them, “One more word from either of you, and your names will appear in our blacklist.”

Hangyul gulped discernibly. Seungyoun wanted to laugh at his expression, but that would be a bad idea—it would probably reignite the fuse to Wooseok’s temper. To make sure that they would actually leave the premises, Wooseok even personally escorted Seungyoun and co to the front door of the library.

Seungyoun was in the process of dragging both Hangyul and Dohyon away from the door—and Wooseok—when he heard an unmistakable bright voice, “Seungyoun-hyung! Hangyul! Dohyon!” It was Byungchan, his friend from dance club.

“Wooseok! You’re working today?” Byungchan, his friend from dance club, who also happened to be a social butterfly that knew everyone.

To Seungyoun’s surprise, Wooseok shot a small smile at the intruder, “Good to see you, Byungchan-ah.”

Hangyul tugged Seungyoun’s shirt, “Hyung, he seems like a different person.”

“I don’t think Byungchan’s ever pushed over a library bookshelf before,” Seungyoun replied drily.

After the quiet librarian left to return to his job, Byungchan turned towards them three, “Seungyoun-hyung, you guys know Wooseok?”

“Uh… kind of,” Seungyoun smiled awkwardly, “Acquaintances.” He was not too keen on letting Byungchan know about the bookshelf incident—every breathing thing within a three-mile radius would know too then.

“How did you guys even meet? He’s a Biology major, and you guys are from the Arts school,” Byungchan looked confused as he tried to connect the dots.

“It’s because we—” Hangyul was about to spill the beans, but Seungyoun stopped his blabbering in time by slapping a hand over the younger’s mouth, smiling widely at the doe-eyed man in front of them.

Before Byungchan got the chance to ask any more questions, Seungyoun tugged him away from the library entrance and tried to change the topic, “What classes are you taking next semester?”

“I’m taking Science Ethics and Communication in Science! Oh, and also Psychology—Wooseok is enrolled in that class with me,” Byungchan waved his arms around, gushing excitedly, “You should join us, it’ll be fun!”

They fell into a rare silence as they walked away from the library building, with Seungyoun’s hand still on Byungchan’s shoulder and the two younger ones in tow.

_It’ll be fun!_ Byungchan’s voice resounded in his head with almost an echo-y effect.

PART II

Finals seemed to arrive too soon, and break seemed to leave too soon. Before Seungyoun knew it, he was back at university, walking through the doors to his first class of the semester.

His first class of the semester was Psychology. Seungyoun didn’t know what he was thinking as he swapped one of his mandatory courses with this one, but all he knew was that the conversation with Byungchan could not be erased from his head. The silhouette of the uptight librarian also persisted, often appearing in front of his closed eyes as he drifted off to dreamland. Seungyoun didn’t know what was wrong with him.

Sweeping his gaze nonchalantly over the empty lecture hall, Seungyoun spotted a familiar figure, just as he expected. Byungchan didn’t lie. Wooseok was in this class.

The man sat straight in his chair, propping his forearms on the narrow desk in front of him as he flipped through what seemed to be lecture notes. All Seungyoun could see from his position was a brown fluffy head, bowed towards the pages lying flat on the desk. Seungyoun had to fight an unexplainable urge to run over and ruffle the brown curly hair that belonged to a certain pretty librarian. As he marched through the winded rows of tables, unsurprisingly knocking against some and causing a ruckus, Wooseok looked up. Seungyoun could see, with his 20/20 vision, that the other man was squinting in his direction, probably trying to make out the source of the commotion. He was not wearing his round glasses today, Seungyoun observed with a tinge of disappointment.

Seungyoun instinctively pulled his lips into a big smile. After he came within Wooseok’s field of clear vision, the librarian slightly bowed his head in stoic greeting, “Good morning.”

“Morning to you too, Wooseok-sshi! Fancy seeing you in this class,” Seungyoun put on a perfect mask of innocence. Not to be arrogant or anything, but he was quite confident in his innocent façade. He turned his head and scanned the hall a few times, “Huh, I guess Byungchan’s running late today.”

Wooseok raised an eyebrow, “Byungchan?”

“He told me you guys—uh, he was in this class, so I took it,” Seungyoun bit his tongue as he almost let slip the reason for his enrolment.

Luckily, the sharp librarian seemed to not notice. “Didn’t he tell you?” Wooseok replied with a lowered voice—he probably didn’t want to disturb the few students in the hall, “He dropped out of the course. It clashed with one of his other courses.”

Seungyoun made an awkward _Ahh_ face. _I swear I will kill Byungchan_, he mused as he mentally stabbed a voodoo doll of the younger man. He sat down beside Wooseok and mindlessly asked, “So why are you in this course? I thought you were a Biology major?”

“Shh,” the librarian put a finger to his own lips, perhaps as a side effect of his part time job, “You’ve never heard of having a free elective? What about you then, Dance major?”

“Same same,” Seungyoun lied without skipping a beat. He was not about to tell the man in front of him that he enrolled on complete impulse because he knew that he was going to be in this course. He didn’t even like the guy—he was way too uptight for Seungyoun. Somehow, though, he was _intrigued_ to see Wooseok’s reactions since the other seemed so emotionless all the time.

He reasoned that it was probably because the other man was the complete opposite of himself. Seungyoun was loud, obnoxious; some would even go to the length of calling him _unbearable_. Wooseok, on the other hand, was calm, unshakeable—unless a bookshelf was knocked over in his library. Seungyoun didn’t think that he’d ever seen the small librarian smile, apart from the tiny curling of his lips when he saw Byungchan that day at the library. _All the more reason to see if I can get more emotions out of him_, Seungyoun thought. He was never the hesitant one, so of course he was content to settle on a somewhat reasonable excuse for his unexplainable impulse.

After a good forty minutes have passed, it was the first time in Seungyoun’s life that he realised acting on his stupid impulse was probably not a good idea. In fact, it was a _terrible_ idea.

_Why am I even here why am I even here why am I even here_—Seungyoun wanted to bang his head against the wooden table as the professor bombarded the few students in the room with content that seemed to be in an alien language. Only Wooseok attentively took down everything that was said by the middle-aged man waving at a big screen in front of the hall.

Seungyoun’s existential crisis was rudely interrupted when the balding professor called out, “Please come to the front and write down the name of your partner for the assignment.”

He didn’t know whether he should be glad for the interruption or worried for his upcoming assignment in a course he knew literally nothing about and had no interest for. Why did it have to be Psychology, of all things? Why couldn’t it have been something like Music Composition? Heck, he would even settle for Art History.

Seungyoun was about to go into his second mental breakdown on his first day of the semester when he heard a quiet voice beside him, “If you want, I can be your partner.”

Wooseok’s voice sounded _cold_, but not in an unfriendly way. Rather, it was as if the other didn’t know how exactly to express his emotions, if he had any.

“Sure,” Seungyoun replied after a solid second in stunned silence, his mouth pulling into a wide grin.

He was shocked that Wooseok even extended his hand to him—he was pretty sure his distracted state for most of the lecture had been noticed. He was far from a model student, which was exactly what Wooseok was. Still, it’d be dumb of him to pass up on such a good offer. It wasn’t every day that you got to ride off the back of a smart student.

The professor cleared his throat, seemingly displeased with the ruckus, “Settle down. I will now talk about what you need to do for the assignment, which is due for presentation next week at the same time as today’s lesson. Since this is a preliminary project, the topic is simple. Your keyword is—‘fear’. You are required to experience fear firsthand, simultaneously recording down your emotions and bodily reactions. Your task is to see whether there is a correlation between the two.”

He took a hasty swig of water from his thermos as he waited for the class to finish chattering about the topic and then continued, “Of course, you can be creative with how you want to experience this fear. You can have fun and play around with your topic this time, since it’s only your first week back. Class dismissed.”

Grabbing his bag from the ground, Seungyoun made his way down to the front door with Wooseok by his side. He scratched his head, “What do you think? How should we uh… have this firsthand experience of fear?”

“It’s easy. Horror movies, haunted houses, they all work. We just have to pick one that works for us,” the shorter man replied earnestly, “I don’t think it matters if we go for the common route since it’s only worth 5% of our overall grade.”

“Sounds good. We can start with a horror movie and see if that’s enough material for the project,” Seungyoun nodded. He never thought in his entire life that he would ever talk in all seriousness about an academic project.

The corners of Wooseok’s mouth seemed to lift upwards ever so slightly, probably with contentment from Seungyoun’s easy cooperation. The other man tilted his head up to look at Seungyoun with those large, sparkly eyes that surely were illegal, “I have plenty of horror films to choose from at my place. Give me your number, I’ll text you the address.”

PART III

When he got to Wooseok’s house, Seungyoun was running on two hours of sleep. Orientation Night was coming up, which meant that all the clubs were busy figuring out a way to recruit the new first years come the next semester. As one of the two aces in the university dance club, Seungyoun was scratching his head bald trying to choreograph a dance routine that will somehow lure in the innocent first years. Their idea this year was to combine the different styles of Seungyoun and the other ace Yibo, who was an international dance student from China, in a duet routine followed by a group performance. Seungyoun had stayed in the club room with Yibo for the entire night and morning, only getting back to the dorms in the afternoon to catch a wink of sleep.

This all meant that when the door in front of him was yanked open, Seungyoun was half a breath away from falling asleep at Wooseok’s doorstep. The other man was wearing a thin baby blue sweater today, again adorning the round glasses Seungyoun first saw him with at the library. This was probably Seungyoun’s favourite outfit on Wooseok so far, he thought. He smiled brightly at the man in front of him through his desire to shut his eyes and sleep right there and then.

“Good evening, Seungyoun-sshi,” Wooseok slightly bowed his head as he let Seungyoun in, closing the door behind them.

Seungyoun looked around. Wooseok’s house was larger than he expected. The living room alone was probably the size of Seungyoun’s dorm room. The entire place had minimalistic décor that radiated elegance—it matched Wooseok’s whole existence. Did he live here all by himself?

“My housemates are both out at the moment,” Noticing his curiosity, Wooseok said to Seungyoun quietly, “They won’t be back until tomorrow morning.”

Seungyoun grinned cheekily, “So we can scream as loud as we want?”

The other rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like _You’ll be the only one screaming_, but Seungyoun wasn’t sure he heard correctly. He raised his hand, holding up a plastic bag that he had forgotten about till this moment.

“I brought a peace offering, although I’m not sure you’ll like it,” Seungyoun shot a lopsided smile at the man opposite him, “To apologise for the library incident.”

He lied. He was sure that Wooseok would like it, because he had asked Byungchan for his favourite food. “Chicken feet,” the other had told him, “I guarantee he will scream with joy when he sees you with it.”

Passing the bag to Wooseok, Seungyoun watched for his reaction in anticipation. Wooseok hesitantly reached a hand inside, ruffling the soft plastic. He looked down at the opened takeaway box and Seungyoun saw his eyes widen.

“How did you know…? No, it was Byungchan, wasn’t it? Of course it was him,” Wooseok analysed with the same indifferent tone, but this time, he had a small, almost unnoticeable smile on his lips.

With his soft brown hair draped across his forehead and his eyes hidden behind the round glasses frame that covered half of his face, the librarian looked so cute— Seungyoun gulped, halting his dangerous thoughts before he could act on them.

“Thank you, Seungyoun,” For the first time since he’d met him, Wooseok dropped all formalities between them, “We’re the same age, right?”

Seungyoun nodded in affirmation, secretly pleased that his little scheme to get on the other’s good side had worked out. In a desperate effort to distract himself from his earlier thoughts that still clouded his sleepy mind, Seungyoun asked, “Wooseok, where are we watching the movie?”

Wooseok gestured for Seungyoun to take off his shoes and follow him as he headed towards the sleek black couch in the middle of the living room, still carrying the box of chicken feet in his arms as if it was his baby.

Seungyoun plopped down on the leather surface and got comfortable, leaning his weight on one arm of the couch as he tucked his legs beneath him. He watched as Wooseok fiddled with the remote with his tiny hands, largely obscured by the sleeves of his sweater so that only the movement of his fingers showed.

Feeling his heart squeeze in a way that it shouldn’t, Seungyoun forcibly averted his eyes to focus on the TV screen, only to find a closeup of a doll’s face staring back at him.

Expectedly, he screamed. It was the loudest scream he had let out in about five years, the last time being when he got on a rollercoaster despite his fear of heights. Seungyoun flailed his hand around until he got a hold of Wooseok’s arm and refused to let go despite the attempts of the other to struggle free.

Unexpectedly, his terror extracted a small _pfft_ from Wooseok, who was staring at Seungyoun with raised eyebrows and an amused smile. The man smugly remarked, “I knew you’d scream but didn’t know it’d be this fast.”

“Thank me later when my fear hard carries our assignment, Mr Oh-I’m-Not-Scared-Of-Anything,” Seungyoun huffed, still trying to calm his beating heart down.

Wooseok didn’t say anything and pressed play on the remote. Once again, Seungyoun seriously questioned his life choices. Why did he choose this class again? He peered through the corner of his eye at the man beside him, who was munching on some chicken feet held in the hand that wasn’t clutched by Seungyoun. _Maybe… it’s worth it_, he thought to himself as he watched Wooseok through half-lidded eyes.

He didn’t know when he fell asleep, but when he opened his eyes again, his entire body felt as if it had experienced a full cycle of the washing machine. He stared at the white ceiling above him, his mind blanking out for a moment. Where was he? Right, he was watching a movie at Wooseok’s place. He fell asleep? Seungyoun jolted, but didn’t get up—his body was still sore from his weird body arrangement on the couch during his sleep.

“If you’re awake, then get off me,” A tired voice rung out behind him.

Seungyoun’s eyes widened as he scrambled upright, turning around only to find a disgruntled Wooseok who acted as his human cushion for the entire night. The man frowned as he pulled on his wrinkled sweater to smoothen the folds.

“Sorry, I don’t know how this happened,” Seungyoun rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, “I was really tired from dance practice, I think.”

“I was surprised that you could fall asleep during a horror movie. That takes talent,” the other drily replied.

Seungyoun smiled apologetically, “I guess we’ll have to go with Plan B: haunted house?”

“… Yes.”

PART IV

They organised to meet up a few days after the movie. Seungyoun shuddered from the mere memory of the night—he didn’t think he could ever forget the disapproving look in Wooseok’s eyes as Seungyoun got off him. He hoped that his friendship with the stoic librarian did not regress from his carelessness, when it had only just improved because of his chicken feet.

To ensure no further mishaps, Seungyoun even made sure to arrive ten minutes before their planned meeting time. As he waited on the sidewalk next to the entrance of the amusement park they were going to, the word “date” suddenly popped up in his head. He abruptly shook his head, contributing it to the weird wiring of his brain.

When Seungyoun spotted a familiar figure in the distance, he smiled widely and waved in an exaggerated way. Upon recognising him, the figure looked at the watch on his left wrist.

“Seungyoun-sshi, you’re early,” Wooseok sounded surprised.

Slinging an arm around the other man’s small frame as they headed towards the haunted house, Seungyoun pretended to be sad, “Wooseok, I thought we were past the formalities.”

He could feel Wooseok tense from their skin contact, but he made no effort to remove himself from the librarian’s shoulder. After a long two seconds, he heard Wooseok’s normal indifferent voice, “Seungyoun. Happy?”

Seungyoun’s laughter was stopped short when eerie music surrounded them both. He looked away from Wooseok and realised that perhaps to his disappointment, they have already arrived at their destination. A banner hung by a precarious chain above the black rusty door, reading “_Doll Dream_” in large, cursive letters. Seungyoun groaned mentally, dolls _again_?

Ever the gentleman, Seungyoun held open the door and gestured for his companion to head in first. As Wooseok walked past, he leant in with almost undetectable mirth in his eyes and whispered, “Scared?”

As soon as Seungyoun swung the door shut, he was enveloped by darkness and it was hard to even see his own fingertips. He fell silent as he tried to adjust his vision to the dark. A hand reached for his and Seungyoun almost screamed again when Wooseok’s soothing voice sounded from about half a metre away.

“It’s me,” his voice felt strangely apologetic—perhaps he thought Seungyoun was hurt by his jibe earlier, “The path is only wide enough for one person. Hold on to me.”

The slightly cold hand guided Seungyoun’s to the other man’s shoulder, and Seungyoun thought that it held on for a second before letting go, but it was probably his imagination. His mind was doing weird things today.

Holding onto Wooseok for dear life, Seungyoun took a few tentative steps forward. Although he braced his heart for jump scares, Seungyoun still couldn’t help but let out a high-pitched shriek when a doll with large blinking eyes popped out from a cupboard right next to him. In his panic, he grabbed whatever that was in front of him with both hands—which happened to be Wooseok’s arm.

The poor guy stumbled from his assault, sighing in mock annoyance though Seungyoun could detect a trace of laughter in it, “They’re not alive, Seungyoun.”

Seungyoun let go of Wooseok, but leant forward and whispered loudly in the direction of what he thought to be the other’s ear, “That’s what makes them even scarier!”

He felt a pause, then a strong tug on his sleeve urging him on. Seungyoun dragged his feet along the gravelly path, already exhausted though it was merely the beginning of their “fear” experience.

They stepped into the next room. Seungyoun’s eyes were pretty much closed, only allowing a slit of vision so that he could hopefully get less terrorised by whatever that came next. Whether this would have achieved the effect Seungyoun hoped for, he didn’t know. He only realised—too late—that it took away his already compromised vision in the darkness.

“Ow what the fu—” Seungyoun took a sharp inhale as he knocked into a sharp corner with his shin and almost faceplanted on the floor. A soft, cold hand reached out to steady him.

“Are you okay?” Wooseok’s voice was deeper than what one would expect of him, with such a young-looking face like his. It was strange since they hadn’t met for long, but Seungyoun could hear a hint of concern in the librarian’s tone when it would probably seem normal to other people. He smiled, knowing that Wooseok couldn’t see him.

“Wooseok, it hurts,” Seungyoun whined, half in pretence and half because his shin really hurt like a bitch. It was going to bruise tomorrow, he could just tell. Seungyoun clasped a hand over Wooseok’s, the one that was supporting his other arm. It was just so fascinating to see what the quiet librarian would do in response to his random antics.

The hand under his froze, then struggled free from his hold. Seungyoun felt his heart drop, though he couldn’t figure out why.

Clearing his throat, Wooseok said in a tight voice, “Seungyoun, stop fooling around. Let’s go.”

They headed along the path in silence. Seungyoun forgot how many rooms they went through. He even forgot to scream when a doll crashed from the ceiling and fell right in front of his feet, missing him by inches. He felt like he was probably numb to everything by now, and no matter how scary of a doll was, it wasn’t going to succeed in freaking him out again.

He was wrong.

The moment he felt an icy, porcelain-like touch on the back of his hand, he took a big gasp of air, trembling. _Am I going to die today? By the hands of a doll? _Despaired thoughts ran through his mind; his life so far and its highlights played over and over again in his head like a recorded film.

“Wooseok?” After a few seconds of dramatic internal monologue, Seungyoun let out a strangled cry for help, “Are you there?”

Hearing a muffled laugh way closer to him than expected, Seungyoun narrowed his eyes in suspicion, “Wooseok, was that you?”

“What do you mean?” A stern voice replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Did you get scared again?” The end of his last sentence trailed off into quiet laughter—Seungyoun suddenly wished the haunted house wasn’t so dark so that he could see the other’s face right now.

Seungyoun rolled his eyes, “You really can’t lie in front of me, you know that? I see right through you.”

The other man hummed in response. A hand was thrusted at Seungyoun, much to his surprise.

“So you don’t knock into shit again,” Wooseok mumbled.

Seungyoun felt warmness rising in his chest. Wooseok probably wanted to cheer him up after noticing his lack of screaming throughout most of their journey. He took the other’s outstretched hand and grasped it within his own.

“Your generosity is much appreciated,” Seungyoun quipped with exaggerated gratitude as he tightened his fingers around the smaller hand in his palm, “Let’s go, there’s not much left.”

Seungyoun had never felt so grateful to see the sunlight. As they stepped out of the dim doorway into the outside world once again, Seungyoun took a huge breath of fresh air, pretending to forget that Wooseok’s and his hands were still connected.

Unfortunately, Wooseok seemed to remember. Sliding his hand out of Seungyoun’s hold in one swift motion, he pretended to touch his chin with it nonchalantly. Seungyoun could see the other’s eyes subtly dart to their left and right, probably to see if anyone around them had noticed.

Seungyoun managed to hold in a laugh at Wooseok’s cuteness, but he could not resist the strange urge to ruffle the other man’s hair. He suddenly extended a hand and stroked through the locks on Wooseok’s head a few times, then looked away as if nothing had happened. His hair was as soft as it looked.

In his peripheral vision, he saw Wooseok turning to him, eyes enlarging questioningly. Luckily, there was no hint of annoyance, only confusion. Seungyoun didn’t know how to explain his impulsive action, or whether if he should at all. Deciding that it was a good time for him to run away, Seungyoun leant in and smiled at the shorter man, “I have dance practice so I gotta go. I had fun today, Wooseok. I’ll message you about the project later, yeah?”

Wooseok broke eye contact and nodded slowly. Seungyoun patted his shoulder as goodbye and with large strides, he walked away. A part of him felt strangely empty.

PART V

The library was quiet today, as usually it would be—well, perhaps except from that time when Seungyoun and co made a massive ruckus. Wooseok rolled his eyes just at the memory of that day.

Now that he thought about it, Wooseok hadn’t seen Seungyoun in weeks. The week after they presented their project, there was a national holiday, so there was no class. Seungyoun was absent the week after, apparently because of dance practice, or so he heard from Byungchan.

It was a weird feeling that Wooseok couldn’t quite put his finger on. He should find the tall man annoying, especially when they first met under circumstances like _that_. It was hard, though, to be cold towards someone like him, someone who always had a bright smile on their face that seemed to light up the entire room.

Wooseok sighed inaudibly. Rubbing his eyebrows tiredly, he flipped over his phone to find that the screen was lit up with a notification from one of his housemates, Seungwoo.

** _snoopy:_ **

_Wooseok-ah, come see this performance with me tonight, I know you’re free_

_Jinhyuk’s coming too_

** _wooseok:_ **

_Hyung??_

** _snoopy:_ **

_Byungchan’s dancing on Orientation Night, so I wanted to show support ya know_

_Since I’m such a good friend_

** _wooseok:_ **

_Then go by yourself??_

** _snoopy:_ **

_I don’t wanna go alone though :(_

_Come with me, pleeeease?_

** _wooseok:_ **

_If you promise to buy me chicken feet for the next 3 movie nights, sure thing hyung_

** _snoopy:_ **

_Wooseok! That’s not how I raised you!_

** _wooseok_:**

_Thanks in advance, hyung_

The mention of dancing reminded Wooseok of a certain someone. Seungyoun seemed to always be at dance practice. Even that time at his house, Seungyoun was so tired from dance practice that he fell asleep—on him.

To be fair though, it wasn’t like he couldn’t push him off, but the other man had looked so exhausted that Wooseok just couldn’t bring himself to do anything that would wake him up. He pretty much lay awake, half under Seungyoun, for the entire night. Wooseok almost got annoyed at the other, who had unnecessarily sharp shoulder bones that almost left bruises, but he just couldn’t when his eyes were met with Seungyoun’s watery, drowsy gaze.

Wooseok didn’t know what was wrong with himself. Sometimes when he was about to drift off to sleep, he remembered the feel of the taller man’s hand. His palm was calloused in some places—he probably played an instrument, which made sense since he did a music-related major. Wooseok was meant to be the one calming the other down in the haunted house, but he was the one that felt protected and safe with his hand in Seungyoun’s.

Sometimes he also remembered the moment Seungyoun leant down to talk to him in the haunted house. Neither of them could see one another in the pitch-black room. Wooseok had been walking in front all along, but he had turned around when he was chatting with Seungyoun. Wooseok suspected that the other man never realised, but he was pretty sure that Seungyoun’s lips were a mere inch away from his own—he could feel the other man’s breath on him. He had even held in his own breath so that Seungyoun would hopefully not realise and make everything awkward.

Taking a deep breath to clear his head of jumbled thoughts, Wooseok closed the library and returned home to change into clothes that were more appropriate for watching a dance performance.

When Wooseok got off the bus and stepped onto campus once again, he felt a chilly breeze on his skin. It was deep into autumn after all. He headed towards the hall where the arts performances were being held and was greeted near the entrance by two familiar faces.

“Wooseok!” Jinhyuk, his other housemate, shouted as if his voice wasn’t loud enough already, “We’re over here!”

“Am I late?” Wooseok looked at his phone, “I went home to change clothes.”

“No, the performance is just about to start. They’re doing the introductions now,” Seungwoo replied, smiling.

As they went inside the auditorium, they were engulfed by waves of cheering and whistling, presumably for the dancers that were introduced just then. Wooseok thought he caught a glimpse of a familiar back as the dancers went backstage, but he wasn’t quite sure since he didn’t wear his glasses today. _It’s too coincidental_, he convinced himself.

The entire hall went silent as the lights on the stage faded out. Suddenly, a single light beam flashed, sketching out a dark silhouette in the centre of the stage. Wooseok’s eyes widened.

It was him.

With the first beat, Seungyoun started moving his body. Wooseok was no expert in dancing, but even he could tell that the man was good. Every angle of his limbs, every motion, every transition—everything was _perfect_. His expressions too—he had a deadly gaze that seemed to pierce into every soul in the entire audience. On stage, he seemed to be the complete opposite of his normal self. If off stage, he was a ball of energy that brightened up every room he was in, then right now, he was a blackhole that drew all glimmers of light in the hall to himself.

Every pair of eyes in the giant auditorium was on him, and Seungyoun relished in it. Wooseok felt like he was in a trance, eyes glued onto every movement of the dancing figure on the stage.

A second figure emerged into the light, and the music transitioned as the performance became a collaborative one between the two. It was obvious that they had danced for a long time together—their coordination with each other was impressive even though their dance styles were completely different.

Though there were two dancing on the stage, Wooseok could not tear his eyes away from Seungyoun. Under the steaming gaze of the stage lights, beads of sweat formed on the dancing figures as they gave their all to their art. Wooseok could see glistening tracks down Seungyoun’s face and chest, which was partially exposed by his deep cut V-neck shirt.

To match his black shirt, Seungyoun wore tight black pants and suspenders. His sleeves were rolled up to just below his elbows, revealing toned lower arms and his tattoos. This was honestly a shocking sight to Wooseok—he had only ever seen the other man in oversized T-shirts over shorts, or normal T-shirts tucked into baggy jeans. He had never realised how good of a body the noisy big guy had. Wooseok peered down at his stick-skinny arm and squeezed it. _I’m going to go to the gym everyday now_, he thought grimly.

He looked back up just in time to see around five other dancers coming onstage, including Byungchan and to his surprise, also the two students that were with Seungyoun at the library when they first met. _No wonder Byungchan knew them_, Wooseok mused.

The seven figures under the spotlight moved in almost complete synchronisation. Wooseok now understood why Seungyoun had spent all those hours at dance practice, and it seemed to have paid off. The audience was going wild with cheers and clapping. Wooseok had a feeling that the dance club was going to gain quite a considerable number of first year recruits next semester.

Much to the audience’s disappointment, the performance ended too soon. As the stage lights turned off and the normal ceiling lights were switched on, the dancers bowed to the audience multiple times.

A microphone appeared in Seungyoun’s hand out of nowhere, and his familiar voice projected across the hall, “Thank you. In case people arrived later and didn’t catch our introductions, I am Cho Seungyoun, the president for the dance club starting next semester. I hope you all liked our performance today, since all our kids have put a tremendous amount of effort into perfecting it. If you enjoyed it, please leave a like and subscribe—” Seungyoun paused for the audience to finish laughing, “I mean, please consider signing up to join the dance club if you haven’t already. Dancers of all experience levels are welcome. We don’t bite, so don’t be shy! Thank you once again.” He finished off with another bow.

It was refreshing for Wooseok to see this serious, down-to-business side of Seungyoun. In his mind, his image of Seungyoun had always been a goofy idiot who would literally trip on air and laugh at himself afterwards. Wooseok felt a foreign tightness in his chest.

Wooseok was startled out of his thoughts when he heard Jinhyuk yell across the hall, “Byungchan! Superstar! Come take a photo with us!”

Looking up at the dancers who were now by the side of the stage chatting amongst themselves, Wooseok’s eyes met Seungyoun’s, who was probably staring in his direction because of Jinhyuk’s loud ass.

Seungyoun got up along with Byungchan, making his way to Wooseok and his friends. Wooseok swallowed; his mouth felt drier and drier as the other man approached.

“Wooseok,” Seungyoun’s distinctive voice sounded near Wooseok’s ears—the crowd was too loud for them to speak normally—sending a light shiver down his spine, “Did you come to see me?”

“No, I didn’t know you were performing,” Wooseok replied earnestly, “I promised Seungwoo-hyung to come see Byungchan with him.”

Seungyoun’s face dropped. His whole aura seemed to dim and even his signature smile was wiped off his face within the blink of an eye.

Wooseok panicked internally—he didn’t know why he cared so much about what the other was feeling. He reached up to grab the folded sleeve of Seungyoun’s shirt, making the man tilt his head curiously.

After much struggle, he opened his mouth, “You danced really well today. I really enjoyed watching the performance, especially… Especially your part.” He could feel a flush climbing up his cheeks and working its way to his ears. He hesitated before adding in a small voice that only them two could hear, “I could only see you.”

Wooseok stared at the ground, too embarrassed to even look up. Suddenly, the scent of the other engulfed him as he was pulled into a hug. Flustered, he clutched onto the front of Seungyoun’s shirt while the taller man entrapped him with both arms.

Leaning down slightly so that his mouth was next to Wooseok’s ear, Seungyoun whispered, “Thank you, Wooseok. That was the best compliment I have ever received.”

Burying his face in the crook of Seungyoun’s neck to hide his pink face, Wooseok nodded and forced out a _you’re welcome_. He could feel the body against him tremble with laughter. Indignantly, he shoved the annoying guy away as he rolled his eyes.

“Welcome back, normal Wooseok,” Seungyoun teased, still laughing.

“You two…” Byungchan’s mouth was agape and seemingly has been so for the last five minutes since they arrived, “When did you become so close?”

“We’re not—” Wooseok was interrupted by Seungyoun pulling him closer and swinging an arm over his shoulder.

“We’re in the same course, of course we’re close,” Seungyoun replied, leaning half of his weight on Wooseok.

Byungchan’s mouth made an _oh_ shape as he raised his eyebrows. He asked, “Since we all seem to know each other, do you wanna go for dinner together? Us three, plus Seungwoo, Jinhyuk and the dance club kids?”

Everyone was in agreement. Byungchan was a social butterfly indeed.

They decided to go to a Korean BBQ near their university. As they went inside the restaurant, Wooseok was one of the first ones to sit down. Seungyoun came in after a few others and the seats next to Wooseok were still empty, but the guy strangely spared not even a glimpse in his direction. Seungyoun sat down at the far end of the table, brows furrowed the entire time.

Wooseok was confused. It didn’t seem Seungyoun-like to not bother him. Had he done something? It hadn’t even been a few hours since their last interaction, and that was amicable enough anyway.

Thankfully, before Wooseok had the chance to drown in his own thoughts, Jinhyuk and Seungwoo came in and plopped their asses next to him.

“Wooseok-ah, are you okay?” Seemingly noticing his distracted state, Seungwoo asked in a gentle tone.

Shaking his head slightly, Wooseok gave the older man a small smile, “I’m fine, hyung. Just a little tired.”

As the night went on, the restaurant became full of boisterous laughs and clinks of beer bottles. Wooseok peered over at a certain dark-haired man across the table as inconspicuously as he could. Seungyoun sat in between his dance club friends, with the duet dancer—Yibo? —on his right, and Hangyul, the kid that knocked over the bookshelf with him on his left.

He had been quieter than usual for the entire duration of the dinner, Wooseok observed. Seungyoun still laughed when others made a joke, but it didn’t feel like _him_. What was even more strange was that he seemed to be avoiding Wooseok’s gaze and had not even once looked over in his general direction.

Courage slightly hardened by the alcohol he had consumed tonight, Wooseok figured that there was no better time to talk to Seungyoun. He got out of his seat, making sure that the legs of the metal chair did not scrape against the concrete floor of the small restaurant even in his tipsy state.

He circled carefully around the tables and messy chairs until he got to Seungyoun. He patted the seated man on the shoulder, leaning down to whisper in his ear, “Seungyoun, come with me.”

The other man seemed startled at the sight of him, but only for a second. He mutedly got up and followed Wooseok outside onto the veranda behind the restaurant.

“Seungyoun, you were quiet tonight,” Wooseok got straight to the point, rubbing his exposed forearms that were being attacked by the night breeze, “Did something happen?”

Seungyoun looked away and sighed. There was no trace of his usual joyfulness anywhere on his face. He turned back and took a step forward, “Are you cold?”

“Don’t change the topic,” Wooseok frowned.

He was met with silence. A few seconds passed, then Seungyoun started to take his jacket off. He had changed into a more casual outfit for dinner earlier—inside a black jacket, he was wearing a simple white T-shirt tucked into some jeans, his usual look.

Wooseok placed a hand over Seungyoun’s arm, halting his movements, “You’re gonna be cold.”

The other shook his hand off and continued taking off his jacket. He draped it across Wooseok’s shoulders, wrapping it tightly around his small frame. Wooseok gazed up at his face, trying to find some hint as to what the issue was.

Seungyoun met his eyes for the first time tonight, as he was adjusting the jacket around Wooseok’s body. Wooseok watched as the taller man inched closer, raising a hand up to touch his cheek.

For the first time since they met, Wooseok didn’t flinch when the other initiated contact. Seungyoun’s lips were pressed into a tight smile as he softly touched one side of Wooseok’s face. Wooseok could feel the callous on the side of his thumb gently grazing across his cheek, leaving behind a blazing trail of something that he couldn’t quite put into words.

Wooseok closed his eyes, overwhelmed by everything. He felt something soft press against his forehead lightly. The fleeting touch disappeared as if in a lucid dream, and only regretful words were left hanging in the air.

“I’m sorry. I’ll see you around.”

PART VI

Seungyoun didn’t go to class for another few weeks. At his university, the lectures were recorded, so physical attendance wasn’t really compulsory. He knew that he was avoiding Wooseok, and he knew it was cowardly of him to do so, but he just couldn’t bring himself to face the pretty librarian who always looked at him with such an endearing expression.

Rubbing his face, Seungyoun flopped down on his bed. Not only had he been avoiding Wooseok, he had also been avoiding the memory of that night. He hated himself for being such a coward.

On the night of the group dinner, Seungyoun had been searching for an answer. An answer as to why he took the words of a certain librarian so close to heart; an answer as to why his heart felt like doing backflips whenever the other man came within his sight.

Seungyoun knew, deep inside, what it probably was, but he refused to entertain any of that type of thought. It wasn’t time yet. He couldn’t be sure of what the other thought of him. To think that way would mean throwing everything between them on the line. It was too risky.

He placed an arm over his eyes as he exhaled. He felt like he could see Wooseok’s expression from that night, with his tightly shut eyes and the red tips of his ears. Seungyoun clenched his teeth, willing the image away for the sake of his mental wellbeing.

Startled out of his thoughts by a loud _ding!_, Seungyoun picked up his phone from the desk next to his bed. It was Byungchan.

** _byungbyungbyungchanie:_ **

_hey hey Seungyoun-hyung_

_have you talked to wooseokie recently????_

_ **seungseungseungyounie:**_

_ no, I haven’t been going to class_

_ why?_

** _byungbyungbyungchanie:_ **

_oh_

_it’s just that uh_

_do you remember seungwoo-hyung, wooseok’s housemate_

_he came to see our performance too_

_ **seungseungseungyounie:**_

_ yea, the tall one_

** _byungbyungbyungchanie:_ **

_yeah, that one!! anyway he’s my close friend_

_and he was talking to me about how he was worried for wooseok_

_because he’s been like_

_quiet_

_well he’s quiet usually_

_but he’s even quieter nowadays_

_and he always seems distracted_

_seungwoo-hyung said he’s seen wooseokie misplace books _

_and he would be scolded by the older librarians_

** _ seungseungseungyounie:_ **

_ well I mean_

_ everyone makes mistakes_

** _byungbyungbyungchanie:_ **

_don’t you see, hyung? he would usually never make mistakes like that_

_he’s like the most careful and smart person I know_

_apart from seungwoo-hyung_

_so I messaged you to see if you might know what’s going on_

_but I guess you don’t_

** _ seungseungseungyounie:_ **

_ yea, I haven’t seen him in a while_

_ did seungwoo-sshi say anything else?_

** _byungbyungbyungchanie:_ **

_he said something like_

_“wooseokie seems lovesick”_

_but that’s honestly nonsense_

_I mean_

_can you imagine wooseok, THE kim wooseok, dating a fellow human being????_

_no way man_

_I have never even seen him interact with any female species outside of class_

_WAIT_

_what if he swung the other way_

_then everything would make sense _

** _ seungseungseungyounie:_ **

_ byungchan_

_ I don’t think it’s good to make speculations about your friend’s sexuality_

** _byungbyungbyungchanie:_ **

_sorry hyung, I want to help wooseokie_

_but I still think it makes sense_

_and it wouldn’t be me or seungwoo-hyung or jinhyuk-hyung_

_because then this would have happened a long time ago_

_and not so suddenly _

** _ seungseungseungyounie:_ **

_ wow go off mr conan_

** _byungbyungbyungchanie_ ** _:_

_so it must be _

_someone he met recently?????_

_and apparently he’s been acting weird ever since the group dinner we had_

_so someone who was at the dinner? _

_wait _

_hyung_

** _ seungseungseungyounie:_ **

_ sorry byungchan _

_I gotta go _

_ttyl_

** _byungbyungbyungchanie:_ **

_…_

_you realised too, didn’t you _

_good luck hyung, we’ll all be rooting for you _

Seungyoun’s heart felt like it was about to burst, as if it could no longer contain the emotions it had held within for so long. Clutching his phone tightly, he shoved his feet into the first shoes he could find and ran as fast as he could out of the door.

When he arrived at the familiar entrance to the library, he was out of breath. He leant on the doorframe, trying to stop his huffing and look more like a normal human being.

He didn’t know what was going through his mind when he ran here. It was purely on a whim; he wasn’t even certain that Wooseok’s abnormal behaviour was because of him. It could’ve been because he was tired, or he had a stressful assignment due, or anything.

But Seungyoun could not wait a second longer to confirm the other’s feelings.

He glanced at his phone anxiously. It was lunchtime, so most students would be out for lunch right now and the library would be empty. It was now or never.

Steeling his will, Seungyoun stepped into the library. It was where this all started, and it made sense for this place to witness the culmination of everything between them, whether good or bad.

Suddenly, an ingenious idea popped off like a lightbulb in Seungyoun’s mind. He walked over to where the bookshelf Hangyul had knocked over was, and circled around the area—as he thought, there were no students anywhere in sight.

There was a trolley a few steps away from him, one of those that were used for returning books to shelves, but it was empty at the moment. Seungyoun smiled to himself—there was no need to topple over another bookshelf then. He lightly tested the weight of the trolley. It wasn’t too heavy, which was perfect for his purpose.

He let go of the trolley whilst it was still in a tilted position. It remained stationary for a second in the air, then swayed and slammed onto the carpet in front of him, making a muffled but loud _thud_. Seungyoun made use of the time one would need to get to where he was from the reception desk and quickly slipped his foot under the fallen trolley.

Hearing messy footsteps approaching, Seungyoun smiled and let out a loud _ow_. He was ready to see the panic on the cute librarian’s face as he worried over him.

“What happened?” A nasally female voice sounded, one that certainly did not belong to _his_ librarian.

Seungyoun’s head snapped up. _Fuck_. The old lady in front of him was probably one of the other librarians, but he had not thought to take that into account when he was pulling his stunt.

“Sorry, uh, I accidentally knocked into this,” Seungyoun put on a pained expression, hoping that the lady would take pity on him.

The old librarian seemed to buy his lie and moved to help him up, “Sweetie, are you okay? Do you need to put some ice on that?”

“No no, I should be fine,” Seungyoun smiled brightly—this trick always worked with old people, “Would you be able to call Wooseok over for me, if he’s not busy? I’m his friend.”

“Sure, honey. There’s nothing to do around here at this hour, so he should be free,” The nice lady nodded, eyes wrinkling.

As the librarian pushed the trolley along the carpet and sauntered away, Seungyoun gave himself a mental slap to the face. How could he have been so stupid? Of course there were other librarians. Just because Wooseok was the one that scolded them last time, it didn’t mean that he’d be the one to come running this time.

“Ah, all that effort to get him here…” Seungyoun mumbled as he stood up, shaking his perfectly good leg.

“To get who here?” An icy voice made him look up, “I heard you were seriously maimed by a trolley you _accidentally_ pushed over.”

Seungyoun scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment as the other man looked pointedly down at his legs, “Yeah, about that, you see… I wanted to see you.”

“You could have just come to the reception, you know. Do you actually want to be banned from this library?” Wooseok seemed speechless at his antics and turned around, “If you’re done, I have work to do.”

“Wait,” Seungyoun grabbed Wooseok’s wrist to stop him from leaving, “I know you’re not busy right now. Won’t you talk with me for a bit? Byungchan and the others have been worried about you.”

Wooseok looked as if he was about to yank his arm out from Seungyoun’s hold, but then he sighed and gave in, turning back to face Seungyoun.

Seungyoun didn’t even know where to start. He swallowed, “Um, so I was talking to Byungchan. He said that he heard from Seungwoo-sshi that you weren’t being yourself, ever since we had dinner together after Orientation Night. I wanted to check up on you.” _And confirm something else for myself,_ Seungyoun mentally added.

The other seemed to be deep in thought, frowning in a way that tugged on Seungyoun’s heartstrings. He turned his gaze to Seungyoun and curtly replied, “It’s none of your business. Thank you for being concerned, but I can deal with it on my own.”

There was no way that Seungyoun could have missed the sharpness in the other’s tone. He furrowed his brows—was it because of what he said to him that night?

Wooseok turned around to leave. Perhaps impulsively, Seungyoun took a large step and threw his arms around the small frame of the other, tugging him so that his back made light contact with Seungyoun’s chest. He tightened his hold on Wooseok to stop his attempts to struggle free, slightly bending to rest his chin on the librarian’s shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Wooseok’s voice sounded strained as he stared forward, unwilling to look at the one holding him hostage. _He’s probably pissed_, Seungyoun thought.

“Shh,” Seungyoun murmured into Wooseok’s ear, “I’m sorry for what I did the other day. I’m sorry for running away. I’m sorry… for not realising earlier.”

After a few seconds of silence, the figure in his arms spoke, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He masked the tremble in his voice with an indifferent expression, but Seungyoun could see right through the cracks of his façade.

He let go of the other, only to turn him back to face him. Seungyoun was honestly thankful that they were in a secluded corner of the library and that all the students were out for lunch.

“Wooseok,” Seungyoun took his time to appreciate the look of the man in front of him, who was staring at him irritably, chest heaving in annoyance, “Close your eyes.”

“Stop it, whatever you’re doing,” Wooseok said through gritted teeth, “Do you think this is funny?”

Before Wooseok could react, Seungyoun placed a hand over his eyes and held him steady by the shoulder with the other. Wooseok’s eyelashes fluttered against his palm, and Seungyoun felt like his heart was doing cartwheels and all sorts of gymnastic stunts in his ribcage.

“I don’t,” Seungyoun moved his head closer, so close that he could feel Wooseok’s nervous breaths on his face, “I’m serious.”

Closing the last bit of gap between them, he lightly pressed his lips to Wooseok’s, finally feeling the slightly chapped ones of the other with his own. He held on for a few seconds, then mouthed _trust me_ against the librarian’s lips. He didn’t know if Wooseok got the message, but when he slowly removed his hand from covering the other man’s face, he was met with watery eyes.

Seungyoun’s chest tightened in a way he didn’t know was possible. Holding Wooseok by the waist, he rested his forehead on the other’s. He stared into his eyes, searching for the courage he needed.

“I really like you,” Somehow the words sounded dumb when they came out of his mouth, so Seungyoun tried again, “I like you a lot.”

Biting his lower lip, Wooseok averted his gaze, “Do you know what you’re saying?”

“I can prove it to you,” Seungyoun raised a hand up to cup the other man’s cheek, pretending to move to kiss him again.

A red tint climbed up the librarian’s ears as he pressed a finger to Seungyoun’s lips, “I understand. Not here.”

“So somewhere else is okay?” Seungyoun smiled cheekily.

Wooseok looked away and cleared his throat. He reached up to take Seungyoun’s hand off his face, palm slightly damp from being flustered. Seungyoun flipped his hand to the outside and laced their fingers together, thumb rubbing the smaller hand in his hold. Seungyoun whined as he pulled the other to sit down, “Don’t you have something to say to me, Wooseok?”

The librarian didn’t say anything for a solid minute. Then, Seungyoun heard a tiny voice.

“…Me too.”

“Hmm? I couldn’t hear you,” Seungyoun teased, enjoying the pinkness of the other’s face.

Wooseok shot him a glare, but it was more of a playful one rather than his usual I-will-kill-you look. He opened his mouth again, and Seungyoun could feel the grip of his fingers tightening on his own, “When…?”

“When?” Seungyoun paused to think, “I only fully realised just before. But I’m pretty sure it’s been way longer than that. Probably when you told me I was a good dancer, and that you could only see me?”

Wooseok buried his face in the hand that wasn’t clutched by Seungyoun, as if he was embarrassed by his own past words.

“Or maybe even earlier, in the haunted house, when you let me hold your hand,” Seungyoun continued, tilting his head, “What about you? When did you start liking me?”

Wooseok’s face reddened even more. Seungyoun wasn’t sure if he’d get an answer out of the other man since he got flustered so easily, but he did.

“Your performance,” Wooseok began quietly, “I had never seen that side of you. And… after the dinner, when you did _that_.”

Seungyoun’s heart clenched. “You were going to not tell me? Deal with it on your own?” He repeated Wooseok’s words from earlier.

“Yes,” Wooseok refused to look at him, “How was I meant to know that you felt the same way about me? You didn’t even come to class after that. I couldn’t possibly risk our friendship just to satisfy my selfishness.”

Seungyoun couldn’t find to the words to say anything back. He had thought the same way before Byungchan messaged him, giving him a slight glimpse of hope that the other might reciprocate his feelings. Who was he to blame Wooseok for any of this?

“Wooseok,” Seungyoun pulled the librarian to face him, “I really am sorry. For doing that to you and then leaving you hanging. I didn’t know what I was thinking back then, my head was a complete mess. I’m sorry for disappearing on you for these past few weeks, too. I shouldn’t have—"

Seungyoun’s eyes widened as the man next to him reached across and pulled on the front of his shirt. Their lips met in mid-air, as Wooseok tried to stop his blabbering with his own mouth. Placing his hand on the back of Wooseok’s neck, Seungyoun deepened the kiss. It was messy, it was clumsy—but it was exactly how Seungyoun liked it. Because it was Wooseok.

Seungyoun let go slightly to allow Wooseok to catch his breath, “I thought you said not here.” He made sure to drawl out his words—they were still close enough that every movement of his lips touched the other’s as he spoke.

“Shut up, Cho Seungyoun,” Wooseok pushed on his chest and buried his head in the crook of Seungyoun’s neck.

“I love you too, Kim Wooseok.”

**Author's Note:**

> thank u lovelies who have made it this far. this took me over a month to plan and write yikes. i'm still slow at writing from anyone's POV that's not wooseok's bc i haven't known them for long and i'm not 100% sure of their personalities yet (SORRY SEUNGYOUN) so pls bear with me. 
> 
> as before, i welcome any constructive criticism and other comments with open arms!
> 
> i do have plans for several upcoming fics, but idk when i can get them out since i have finals in a few weeks ha ha ha ha. pls pray for me
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/wxxshxn)
> 
> other fics: [seungwooseok coffee shop au](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20529053), [seungwooseok orphan au](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20998967)


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